Educational Attainment

Stephen Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of  (a) White British,  (b) Black Caribbean,  (c) Black African,  (d) Pakistanis,  (e) Indian,  (f) Bangladeshi and  (g) groups of other ethnicity pupils who were entitled to free school meals achieved five or more A*-C GCSEs in the last period for which figures are available, broken down by gender.

Jim Knight: The latest published data relate to 2005 and are shown in the following table. Provisional 2006 data by pupil characteristics will be available on Thursday, 23 November from the Department's Research and Statistics Gateway (www.dfes.gov.uk/statistics).
	
		
			  Percentage achieving 5 or more grades A* to C at GCSE and equivalent in 2005, by ethnicity, FSM and gender 
			   Not entitled to FSM  Entitled to FSM  All Pupils 
			   Boys  Girls  Total  Boys  Girls  Total  Boys  Girls  Total 
			 White British 53.8 64.1 58.8 21.0 29.2 25.1 50.2 60.1 55.0 
			 Indian 67.2 78.0 72.4 47.9 59.9 53.7 64.8 75.8 70.1 
			 Pakistani 48.9 58.6 53.6 34.4 46.9 40.4 43.2 54.1 48.4 
			 Bangladeshi 49.4 62.1 55.8 44.7 55.8 50.4 46.7 58.5 52.7 
			 Black Caribbean 36:6 51.6 44.6 24.6 42.8 33.5 33.3 49.4 41.7 
			 Black African 49.2 60.8 55.3 32.9 41.0 37.0 42.9 53.3 48.3 
			 All other ethnic groups 57.5 68.1 62.8 34.4 43.4 38.9 52.4 62.5 57.4 
			 All pupils(1) 53.8 64.2 58.9 25.5 34.4 29.9 49.9 60.0 54.9 
			 (1) Includes pupils for which information was not sought or refused.

Five-Year Strategy for Children and Learners

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many new school sixth forms he expects to be created under paragraphs 36 to 42 of the Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners(Cm 6272) in  (a) 2007,  (b) 2008 and  (c) 2009.

Jim Knight: By December 2006, 13 schools are likely to have submitted proposals to the Schools Organisation Committee under the arrangements announced in the Five Year Strategy and 14-19 White Paper, where there is 'presumption' of success for sixth form proposals from high performing vocational specialist schools. We expect that 26 schools will be eligible to make proposals under these arrangements in 2007, although it is not known how many will take up the opportunity. By 2008, we anticipate that 60 high performing schools will have used the 'presumption' arrangements to establish new sixth forms. Assumptions cannot be made at this time about 2009.

Pilot Training

Julian Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, 
	(1)  how many commercial flight tests were carried out at weekends in each year since 2000;
	(2)  how many new  (a) private pilot licences,  (b) commercial pilot licences and  (c) airline transport pilots licences were issued in each of the last 20 years;
	(3)  how many people  (a) hold multi-engine examiner authorities and  (b) held multi-engine examiner authorities in each of the last 10 years;
	(4)  if he will place in the Library copies of the  (a) original impact assessment and  (b) post impact assessment of the JAR-FCL pilot licence;
	(5)  how many pilots were trained in the UK in each of the last 20 years, broken down by nationality.

Gillian Merron: The Civil Aviation Authority holds information on the number of Commercial Pilot Skill Tests, pilot licences issued in the UK and current holders of multi-engine examiner authorities.
	The number of Commercial Pilot Skill Tests carried out on a year-by-year basis since 2000 is given in Table 1. Due to the large amount of data involved, it is impracticable to identify which tests were held at weekends.
	
		
			  Table 1 
			   Number of skills tests 
			 2000-01 797 
			 2001-02 755 
			 2002-03 725 
			 2003-04 741 
			 2004-05 852 
			 2005-06 935 
		
	
	Table 2 shows the number of Private Pilot Licences (PPL), Commercial Pilot Licences (CPL) and Airline Transport Licences (ATPL) issued in each of the last 20 years.
	
		
			  Table 2 
			  Financial year  PPL  CPL  ATPL  All licences total 
			 1986-87 3098 307 383 3788 
			 1987-88 3043 440 396 3879 
			 1988-89 3411 672 518 4601 
			 1989-90 4451 1041 651 6143 
			 1990-91 4669 1253 865 6787 
			 1991-92 4804 1005 658 6467 
			 1992-93 3621 664 553 4838 
			 1993-94 3868 394 229 4491 
			 1994-95 3614 388 200 4202 
			 1995-96 3808 471 380 4659 
			 1996-97 3621 487 351 4459 
			 1997-98 3974 634 372 4980 
			 1998-99 3707 759 561 5027 
			 1999/2000 3577 986 761 5324 
			 2000-01 3145 1046 1777 5968 
			 2001-02 2957 1029 1551 5537 
			 2002-03 3467 341 1605 5413 
			 2003-04 3708 972 1358 6038 
			 2004-05 3190 1100 1300 5590 
			 2005-06 3277 1320 1332 5929 
		
	
	There are currently 1,313 holders of multi-engine examiner authorities. Historic records of examiner numbers and records of pilots trained in the UK are not held.
	A copy of the Authority's 1999 consultation on a proposal to amend the Air Navigation Order 1995to facilitate implementation of JAR-FCL and its accompanying Regulatory Impact Assessment will be placed in the House Library. A post impact assessment has not been carried out, in light of the future transfer of pilot licensing functions to the European Aviation Safety Agency, and the likelihood of the agency carrying out its own impact assessment.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 687

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps she plans to take to implement paragraph 14 of UN Security Council Resolution 687.

Kim Howells: Iraq is a party to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention and is working with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to accede to the Chemical Weapons Convention.The Iraqi Cabinet approved a recommendation for accession on 3 August and the legislation is currently before the Iraqi Parliament.
	Iraq supported the 61st United Nations General Assembly 1st Committee resolution on the "Establishment of a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in the Region of the Middle East", which was an important contribution to the goal of establishing in the middle east a zone free from weapons of mass destruction.
	The UK will continue to support the Iraqi Government in this work.

Key Worker Status

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which new groups are being considered for key worker status.

Yvette Cooper: The Key Worker Living Programme aims to keep the skills needed in frontline public services, in areas where there are significant recruitment and retention needs. While we recognise that all key worker groups provide a valuable service, resources are finite and decisions prioritising those eligible for assistance from the scheme have beenmade following discussions with key worker sponsor Departments who set the key worker groups and areas where the assistance will be targeted. We currently have no plans to extend the scheme although my officials do regularly discuss and review the eligible roles with the key worker sponsor Departments.
	Key workers who are not eligible for the Key Worker Living Programme may benefit from other products available under our HomeBuy scheme which will expand the opportunity for home ownership to over a 100,000 households by 2010.

HM Revenue and Customs

Robert Key: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer where customs officers normally based in the Port of Poole are currently working.

Dawn Primarolo: Numbers of HMRC staff deployed at ports and airports will change continually in line with intelligence and risk assessments and there is not a routine daily deployment of staff.
	The deployment of customs officers cannot be disclosed as this would provide information of valueto those seeking to circumvent HM Revenue and Customs' controls, thereby prejudicing the prevention of crime.

Morbidity Rates

Iain Wright: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the causes of death for  (a) women and  (b) men living in Hartlepool constituency were in each of the last 10 years.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 20 November 2006:
	The National Statistician has been asked to reply toyour recent question asking what were the causes of death for  (a) women and  (b) men living in Hartlepool constituency in each year in the last 10 years. I am replying in her absence. (100740)
	The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Premium Bonds

Vincent Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the  (a) longest,  (b) shortest and  (c) average length of time was that a premium bond had been held on winning a prize of £100,000 or more in each of the last 10 years.

Edward Balls: For those premium bonds where the purchase date is known, the longest, shortest and average period of time that a Premium Bond had been held on winning a prize of £100,000 or more in each of the last 10 years is set out in the following table:
	
		
			   in years  in months 
			  As at December to November:  (a) longest  (c) average  (b) shortest 
			 2005-06 21 3.6 1 
			 2004-05 18 2.6 1 
			 2003-04 12 3.1 1 
			 2002-03 21 3.6 1 
			 2001-02 15 3.4 1 
			 2000-01 30 2.9 1 
			 1999-2000 16 3.2 2 
			 1998-99 17 2.4 4 
			 1997-98 16 3.2 2 
			 1996-97 17 3.7 2

NHS Trusts

John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what the maximum amount each NHS trust may spend on marketing their services to general practitioners under patient choice and payment by results is; and what definition of marketing she uses;
	(2)  what the maximum amount each NHS trust may spend on marketing their services to patients and members of the public under patient choice and payment by results is;
	(3)  how much each NHS trust has budgeted for marketing their services to  (a) patients and  (b) general practitioners under patient choice and payment by results.

Andy Burnham: Information on NHS trust budgets for marketing is not held centrally.
	In the "Operating Framework for 2006-07" the Department set out its expectation that providers would not want to spend excessively, on advertising and marketing and its preference for a self-regulatory approach. The Department will launch a "Code of Practice for Advertising and Promotion of National Health Services", for consultation shortly.

NICE

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will permit the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to negotiate on price with pharmaceutical companies the indicative prices they are given for the purposes of assessing the cost-effectiveness of treatments being subjected to a technology appraisal.

Andy Burnham: The Department has no plans togive the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence a role in drug price negotiation. The Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) is the means by which the Government seek to achieve a balance between reasonable prices for the national health service and a fair return for the pharmaceutical industry.

Prescription Charges

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  whether Asthma UK will be consulted during her review of prescription charges;
	(2)  what plans she has to consult with patient groups about prescription charges.

Andy Burnham: We have already been approached by Asthma UK and some other organisations that wishto make representations as part of the review of prescription charges. We would welcome comments on possible options for changing the current prescription charge arrangements that are cost-neutral for the national health service from all organisations that wish to make representations.

Respiratory Conditions

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much she spent on research into  (a) respiratory conditions and  (b) asthma in each of the last five years.

Andy Burnham: The main agency through which the Government support biomedical research is the Medical Research Council (MRC). The MRC is an independent body funded by the Department of Trade and Industry via the Office of Science and Innovation. MRC expenditure since 2001-02 on respiratory disorders, and the element of that portfolio related to asthma, has been:
	
		
			  £ million 
			   Respiratory disease, including asthma  Asthma 
			 2001-02 11.4 3 
			 2002-03 13.2 2.8 
			 2003-04 12.1 2.8 
			 2004-05 10.3 2.6 
			 2005-06 (1)— (1)— 
			 (1) Not yet available 
		
	
	The main part of the Department's total expenditure on health research is devolved to and managed by national health service (NHS) organisations. The Department additionally funds research to support policy and to provide the evidence needed to underpin quality improvement and service development in the NHS. Total reported expenditure by research active NHS organisations, and expenditure by the Department's national research programmes on the disease areas in question, is shown in the table.
	
		
			  £ million 
			   Respiratory disease, including asthma( 1, 2)  Asthma( 3) 
			 2001-02 n/a 0.6 
			 2002-03 24.5 0.6 
			 2003-04 30.7 0.8 
			 2004-05 31.2 0.7 
			 2005-06 32.0 0.4 
			 n/a = Not available. (1 )Expenditure data was not collected centrally from NHS research active organisations prior to 2002. (2 )The national research programme activity in this area includes a research initiative on air pollution. Part of the focus of this initiative was to investigate the impact of air pollutants on lung function and another part on studies of the effect of living near roads on respiratory symptoms; others are in part relevant to improving our understanding of the factors that cause or exacerbate asthma. It is not possible separately to identify the asthma related costs included in the latter. (3 )Research active NHS organisations' annual research and development reports identify expenditure in some 16 national priority areas, including respiratory disease. Those reports do not include separate details of expenditure on asthma research. The figures shown here relate only to expenditure by the Department's national R and D programmes.